if confirmed, the former nebraska senator chuck hagel will succeed leon panetta and republicans posed the nomination and suggesting he was too willing to compromise with iran and looks like he has the votes needed. over to you. >>> countdown of $85 billion is on. they have been scheduled now for about a year and congress and the white house are not able to work out a compromise. they talking but not to each other. >> reporter: against the backdrop in virginiava, president obama repeated warnings that across the board, arbitrary spending cuts scheduled to begin this friday will cost jobs and undermine national defense. >> the problem is when you cutting $85 billion in seven months, which represents over a 10% cut in the defense budget -- >> and the white house said 90,000 virginia-based employees could be furloughed if cuts are not avoided. >> and over to the norfolk national station, they forced the navy to cancel or delay the repair of certain aircraft carriers. >> reporter: republicans slam the president for holding campaign-style e vents instead of negotiating. >> wise traveling ov